This week at FUEL, we’re going to be talking with our students about persecution, and how the body of Christ has always experienced persecution as a result of full commitment to the Gospel and evangelism. I’m looking forward to this being a really fun conversation for our students (because this is something that we don’t normally get to talk about), but also being a little tricky because persecution isn’t something that most of us are familiar with; at least not in the way we see it in scripture. And yet, persecution against Christians for their spreading of the Gospel is as violent and focused as it’s ever been. Some statistics below may open your eyes to the reality of persecution against Christians around the globe.

Approximately 750,000 Christians are in labor camps in North Korea because of their faith in Christ

ISIS murdered around 4,000 Christians for their faith in Nigeria in 2014. They then doubled their numbers in 2015, bringing the martyrdoms up to 8,000. That region is still at this very moment considered an extremely hostile environment for Christians to even go near.

In this past year, the nation of Russia has now made it illegal to share the Gospel on the streets publically. Many have already been imprisoned by this new law.

For other statistics on modern day persecution, check out the website of the “Voice of the Martyr’s Ministry” link below:https://www.persecution.com/

Should we expect this type of persecution against our students in Elbert County if they live passionately for Jesus? Probably not. We are very fortunate to live in a country that allows us to worship freely and express our religious freedoms however we please (although there are some who believe this won’t be the case for much longer). But although our teens may not see this particular type of persecution, we would be totally wrong to say that they won’t and couldn’t experience persecution by living passionately for Christ today. Teens lose relationships with family members and friends every day for their belief in Christ. Christian teenagers are mocked and belittled in schools every day for their faith, and the movement our society as a whole doesn’t show any promising future for this getting better.

As our teens get older and become productive members of society as adults, they’ll be faced with tough decisions all the time that will test their resolve for Christ. “Should I share the Gospel with people that I work with, even if it means getting fired?” Or, “Should I continue to be passionate for the Gospel and evangelism even if it means that society thinks I am a hateful person?” These are questions that all Christians have to face, and hopefully our faith and devotion to Christ will outweigh any sort of fear of what may happen if we share the Gospel.

Our goal this Wednesday night at FUEL is to encourage our students to start making those right decisions today, so that they can be more grounded in their faith to make those some decisions in the future. Please pray for our youth tonight as we tackle this issue, and pray specifically that their hearts and minds will more devoted to Christ than ever – no matter what the cost.

Hey there FUEL Parents! Hope everyone is doing well and safe from the storm.

This week at FUEL, we’re going to be talking with our students about one of the toughest topics for any young Christian to tackle: fear in evangelism. To be more specific, we’ll be discussing why sharing the Gospel can be fearsome at times, why we need to overcome that fear, and why we as believers never need to live in that fear.

To look at this in scripture, we’ll be taking a look at some statements from the Apostle Paul – specifically Romans 1:16-17, and Philippians 3:8. These verses display a fierce devotion to sharing the Gospel and a prioritized commitment to Christ above all things – regardless of worldly circumstances. Together, we hope this week that our students will desire this same mentality so that their evangelistic efforts can be as passionate as the Apostle Paul’s and the early church.

The hard reality is that there are some very real fears that come with sharing the Gospel. The following questions are statements that I have heard Christian teenagers say and ask (regarding evangelism) in my years of doing student ministry

“Will I lose a relationship with someone if I share the Gospel with them?”“Should I share the Gospel with one of my parents if they aren’t saved? What am I supposed to do if they reject Jesus and tell me to stop talking about him?”“I really want to share the Gospel in my school, but I know that I’ll be the ‘weird kid’ if I do.”“I want to share the Gospel in any way that I can, but I don’t feel like I know how to do that.”“I can’t share the Gospel with some people because their smarter than I am and I know they’ll have ways to combat my statements and leave me looking dumb.”

Satan has done an excellent job at encouraging us to not share the Gospel because of potential negative consequences. The above questions are just a few examples of how the enemy uses fear to trap us in apathy – sitting on the sidelines and watching the “game go by” with little to no impact.

How then are we and our students to overcome the fear of evangelism? We’ll talk about the answer to this in a more in depth way at FUEL this week, but the shortest answer I can give now is this: being satisfied with having our relationship with God…and potentially nothing else.

The crazy part of the above fears that we mentioned above is that they are real, and we certainly don’t want our students to think that nothing “bad” or “negative” could happen if they share the gospel. That simply wouldn’t be true. Students very well may lose a friend or two if they share the Gospel. A relationship with a family member could be hurt by sharing the Gospel, and in America today, rare occasions have even seen people lose their jobs and find trouble with government authorities for their evangelistic efforts. These fears are real because potential negative outcomes are also very real. That is just the scary truth.

And yet…we must ask ourselves this question: is having God and God alone enough for us? If the answer to that question is yes, then we will not live in fear when faced with evangelism. Instead, we will trust God’s sovereignty, knowing that he works all things to the good of those who love Him. We will also fall more in love with Him as we share the Gospel wit boldness, knowing that He is glorified through our efforts – regardless of how people respond.

Please join me in praying that our students will learn to love the discipline of evangelism and not live in the fear of practicing it! Encourage your students this week to share the Gospel with boldness, not apologizing for its truth that is powerful to save lost men and women around the globe. In doing so, we can glorify our King and work diligently to advance His kingdom!

Hello FUEL Parents! I hope everyone had a great a Labor Day and is enjoying this wonderful Fall weather!

This week at FUEL, we’re going to transition into more of an outward life application from the scriptures than what we have done the past few weeks – that being a general overview of what it means to be a Christian and why evangelism must be a top priority for us. Reading through Acts 8:26-40, we’ll take a look at some evangelism principles that Philip used when presenting the gospel to the Ethiopian Eunuch, and talk about how those same principles need to be employed when our students share the Gospel with others. Those 3 evangelism principles that we will focus in on (and consequently encourage our students to live out this week) are listed below.

Through the above principles, we will encourage our students to pray for lost students in their schools, to build meaningful relationships with lost people, and to use scripture and it’s truths when presenting the gospel. Along with encouraging these principles, I’ll be sharing some common evangelism strategies that any student can use in their school or amongst their friend groups.

As a way to continually encourage your student(s), why not try and use these principles yourself and come alongside your student to show them how it’s done? I unashamedly believe this is the best way teach evangelism to our students! If you and your family already have a way that you share the gospel with others, then thank you for what you do and please continue to do so. But if not, why not try out some of the options listed below that are easy to learn evangelism strategies? I hope that you’ll come alongside our student ministry this week in encouraging our students in evangelism by implementing these same tools and strategies in your own life. May God bless you and us as we seek to share His word with a lost world!

“The God Test” http://www.thegodtest.org/ There is also an app you can download for this evangelism tool. I love this strategy, and would encourage you to try it out!

“The Single Verse Strategy” Evangelism is most effective when we present the gospel message in a clear and precise way. Why not take one verse of scripture (John 3:16, John 14:6, Acts 2:21, exc.), memorize it, and share it with lost individuals that we come into contact with? This is a great way to reach people with the Gospel and it still be firmly rooted in scripture.

As always, please let me know if there is anything that I or our church can do to serve you. We love doing ministry with your students and families, and we look forward to seeing how God will use you to reach the world with the Gospel!

Author

I’ve created this blog page for two reasons. First, to inform you of what your children are being taught at youth on Wednesday nights. This will include scripture references that I teach from and what the general idea of the message is. The second reason is to give you all a short idea of how you can encourage these same truths that are being taught at youth into the lives of your children during the week. The goal of our student ministry is that our students can be fed the truth of God’s Word every day of their lives, and we need you (the parents) to help us with that!